All human persons have the
right to not be violated sexually. Rape is often called the ultimate
violation of self, a crime of absolute contempt for personal integrity which
leaves victims with emotional scars for life. Rape is a crime under
international human rights law. Yet many
in Congress still believe that rape is acceptable and that rape victims do not
have the legal right to an investigation of their rape allegation and
conviction of their rapist. Just note the statement of Kansas
Rep. Pete DeGraaf: Being
impregnated during a rape is just like getting a flat tire -
in other words women must be prepared every day of their life to be potentially
sexually assaulted. [i]
This immunity for sexual assault has
been extended by the recent 2001 Supreme Court decision -- Circuit City v. Adams where the Supreme Court expanded the reach of
employees who are required to address disputes through arbitration rather than
in court. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) stood up for rape victims and asked for
the Senate Judiciary Committee to examine the effects on rape victims civil
rights under the new Circuit City vs Adams decision. [ Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams,. 532 U.S. 105
(2001) opinion.]
The Court's decision in Circuit City undermines the effective enforcement of
civil rights laws, and by extending the force of the arbitration act, the Court
made employment contract arbitration provisions enforceable, thus enabling
employers to strip employees of their civil rights by including arbitration
clauses in employment contracts. This
means that rape victims are not allowed to demand an investigation and a
prosecution of their rapist. This Supreme
Court decision will also affect employees of other government contractors not just in the
Defense Department -- it will affect rape victim rights in private prisons who
contract with the federal government, private psychiatric hospitals and even
private medical clinics.

In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones
was gang-raped by her co-workers while she was working for Halliburton/KBR in
Baghdad. She was detained in a shipping container for at least 24 hours without
food, water, or a bed, and threatened with losing her job. She was prevented from phoning local police by being trapped in a locked storage container without access to a phone. Unable to call the police or go to a private physician, Ms. Jones was forced to submit to a forensic exam by a KBR employed doctor who then did not turn over the rape kit evidence to the police but instead handed the rape kit to KBR security personnel. Crucial evidence in the rape kit including the KBR doctors' original examination notes mysteriously disappeared before the actual police got possession of it. KBR employees were alleged to have violated the chain of evidence in a criminal assault case. In addition, Jamie Leigh Jones was detained for long enough for KBR to create a plausible story against her and to collaborate testimony between the witnesses and perpetrators prior to any local police interrogation. The delay in bringing the criminal sexual assault to the notice of police authorities and KBR employees asserting total control over the chain of evidence on the rape kit, was the reason Ms. Jones did not have a strong criminal case of rape. Wasn't this criminal obstruction of justice in a sexual assault case? Jones was prevented from bringing charges in civil
court against KBR for personal injury damages and for their obstruction of justice in her rape case, because her employment contract stipulated that work place injuries could only be handled by mandated private binding arbitration.

What about the human rights of a female prison guard working
in a private prison under federal contract?
If she is raped at work, does the private prison have the right to hold
her in a cell for a day while they tamper with witnesses, destroy evidence and
then force her to have her forensic rape exam performed by a prison employed
physician? This is exactly what happened
to Jamie Leigh Jones when she was raped in Iraq by employees of US defense
contractor KBR. Employees in private
prisons are also asked to sign mandatory
arbitration clauses in their contracts with their employers just like Jamie
Leigh Jones. What about the constitutional
rights of persons working in social services under a governmental
contractor? Women working in direct
contact with former rapists, drug dealers, and violent offenders are at
particular risk of sexual assault. If
they are raped while on the job, will a mandatory arbitration clause in their
employment contract make it legal for their employer to use any means possible
to prevent them from reporting the rape to proper authorities and demanding a
sexual assault investigation? What about
female employees in privately run but publicly funded psychiatric
facilities? Aren't they at special risk
of work place violence? Will arbitration
clauses in their employment contracts nullify their human rights or civil
rights to justice?

The Constitution gives everybody the right to due process of law and victims of
rape, battery and domestic violence deserve their day in court. US governmental contractors have been putting
fine print in their contracts so that victims of sexual assault can be denied
their day in court and forced to arbitrate their sexual assault. But Congress and the Supreme Court are supposed to uphold
the principles of the US Constitution.

Apparently 30 elected
federal officials in the US Congress do not even acknowledge that one out of every 6 women in the
United States suffers a sexual assault at some time in their life. Add to that every mother or father of a rape
victim, every husband, wife or lover, every friend or caring colleague that is
a lot of people victimized by the trauma because everyone close to a rape
victim is affected by this crime. Sexual
assault is considered one of the egregious violations a person can suffer, and
certainly is a trauma that no victim/survivor will ever forget. Every two minutes someone is sexually
assaulted. There are 213,000 sexual
assaults each year. 60% of all sexual assaults are never reported to the police
and only one in 16 rapists will ever spend a day in jail. (RAINN.org statistics)

So in 10/1/2009 Sen. Al
Franken (D-MN) put an amendment on the Department of Defense Appropriations
Act, 2010 in order to:

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"To prohibit the use of
funds for any Federal contract with Halliburton Company, KBR, Inc., any of
their subsidiaries or affiliates, or any other contracting party if such
contractor or a subcontractor at any tier under such contract requires that
employees or independent contractors sign mandatory arbitration clauses
regarding certain claims."

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) spoke against the amendment,
calling it "a
political attack directed at Halliburton."
But there was bipartisan support of the Franken Amendment and the 111th Congress - 1st Session
passed the Franken Amendment S.Amdt. 2588 to H.R. 3326 was added to the Department
of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010. It was passed by a
68-30 vote. The amendment earned the support of 10
Republican senators including that of newly-minted Florida Sen. George LeMieux.
On 12/19/2009
it became Public Law No: 111-118 [Text,
PDF]

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